Posted
by
timothyon Wednesday September 26, 2012 @05:10PM
from the fukushima-not-involved dept.

Third Position writes "The most unambiguous data to date on the elusive 113th atomic element has been obtained by researchers at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science (RNC). A chain of six consecutive alpha decays, produced in experiments at the RIKEN Radioisotope Beam Factory (RIBF), conclusively identifies the element through connections to well-known daughter nuclides. The search for superheavy elements is a difficult and painstaking process. Such elements do not occur in nature and must be produced through experiments involving nuclear reactors or particle accelerators, via processes of nuclear fusion or neutron absorption. Since the first such element was discovered in 1940, the United States, Russia and Germany have competed to synthesize more of them. Elements 93 to 103 were discovered by the Americans, elements 104 to 106 by the Russians and the Americans, elements 107 to 112 by the Germans, and the two most recently named elements, 114 and 116, by cooperative work of the Russians and Americans. With their latest findings, associate chief scientist Kosuke Morita and his team at the RNC are set follow in these footsteps and make Japan the first country in Asia to name an atomic element."

Element 115, for example, can be bombarded with protons to create element 116.... which is unstable and immediately decays, releasing antimatter. This antimatter is used in a total annihilation reaction to fuel the spacecraft.

There will never be an element called MPAAium, since no element (or particle, for that matter) known to man has a half life that comes even close to the effectuve duration of copyright on "Steamboat Willy".